College junior Ezra Andres-Tysch views the 2018 midterm elections at a watch party in the ’Sco. The election season brought a red wave to Ohio as the Governorship, Attorney General, and nearly every high-ranking state position went Republican, with the exception of Democrat Sherrod Brown for the U.S. Senate. In Ohio House District 4, Oberlin’s district, Democrat Janet Garrett lost for the third time to incumbent Republican Jim Jordan. Ohio also rejected Issue 1, which would have reduced drug ...

“Good Talk,” Oberlin’s live talk show, made a triumphant return to the ’Sco Monday night to begin its third season, to the delight of comedy fans on campus.
At the start of Monday’s show, co-hosts Victoria Liebetrau, College sophomore, and College senior Owen Harrington proclaimed to a packed house, “‘Good Talk’ is back, and we’re a normal talk show now.”
Being a “normal talk show” constituted a series of skits involving a set of two bodyguards named Butchy and Muscles, a car salesman gone rogue, and the promotion of a new product — SC4RK or “Shitty Clothes 4 Rich Kids,” a device bearing a remarkable likeness to a fork with which you can quickly shred your designer clothes.
According t...

The Oberlin Bystander Intervention Program, which aims to train students to be active bystanders at large events as well as educate about substance abuse safety measures, becomes fully operational this semester.
Founded in 2016 by College junior Kirsten Mojziszek and senior Deborah Johnson, OBI originally addressed bystander intervention in the cases of sexual misconduct. Mojziszek and Johnson, then Student Senators, formed OBI based on the Senate’s sexual misconduct working group.
“I think Kirs...

The ’Sco, Oberlin College’s campus bar and music venue in the basement of Wilder Hall, will open earlier and offer a wider range of events based on student feedback. Staff members of the club hope the changes will make it more accessible, with a larger role in student life.
The ’Sco will open earlier on days when no touring act or other programming is scheduled. It was open from 8 p.m.–11 p.m. instead of its usual hours of 10 p.m.–1 a.m. on Saturday, and Assistant Director of Student...

Newly arrived students were in for a treat when the ’Sco opened with an exceptionally strong orientation show Satuday night. Baltimore emcee, poet, rapper, and activist Abdu Ali and his crew brought a mix of highly energetic Afro Rave songs that left the audience physically shaken by the performance’s sheer volume. For the first-years who formed their first impressions of the ’Sco that night, the standard for future performances will be set unusually high, while for returning students, thi...

Jay-Marie and Friends, who performed Sunday night at the Cat in the Cream, delivered a show that celebrated Black and queer identities. Musicians Jay-Marie Hill, Britt Baker, Suyá Nascimento and surprise guest Wriply Bennett showcased powerful protest anthems with unambiguous, unapologetic lyrics like “Here, Queer & Staying” and “Keep it marchin, marchin, placin, Raging, gracing / As we stagin liberation.” The performance represents part of a long tradition of Black art and activism ...

Princess Nokia’s performance at the ’Sco on April 8 was supposed to be one of the biggest shows of the year. Students planning on attending the New York rapper’s concert, however, were in for an unfortunate surprise: Destiny Frasqueri, known by her stage name Princess Nokia, missed the show due to travel complications that arose the day before her scheduled appearance.
“The cancellation was due to flight delays the day before from LaGuardia and Delta [Airlines] having major issues,” Bojan Jovanovic, Frasqueri’s agent, wrote in an email to the Review. “It was difficult to find a new flight but we plan on rescheduling and coming back to Oberlin in the future.”
This marks the second time that Frasqueri has...

“I’m having a party / Everyone can come / By the way, you’re invited / You seem pretty fun,” Sarah Midori Perry, frontwoman of Kero Kero Bonito, sings in “My Party,” a track from the group’s first mixtape, Intro Bonito. “My Party” and other songs from the Intro Bonito mixtape, released in August 2014 via Double Denim Records, established Kero Kero Bonito’s reputation for lightheartedness and inclusive fun, which the band will bring to the ’Sco tomorrow night.
The London trio, which also features producers Gus Lobban and Jamie Bulled, started when Bulled and Lobban posted an ad looking for a singer on MixB, an online message board for Japanese expats. Perry was one of the first respondents.
“J...

“My name is Ms. Destiny / I go hard in everything / I bring out the best in me / And do what is best for me,” Destiny Frasqueri raps in “Excellent,” the eighth track from her 2016 mixtape titled 1992, her first release under the name Princess Nokia.
Frasqueri is one of the most refreshing and eclectic artists in modern underground hip-hop and has a devoted fan base in Oberlin, one that has only grown since a scheduled performance at the Cat in the Cream last spring had to be cancelled due to a missed flight.
That concert, originally organized by College sophomore Sky Davis, was expected to be packed and would have been a highlight of last year’s concert season, so Davis and Cat in the Cream staff tried to boo...

Drag Ball has been one of Oberlin’s most iconic annual events since the 1980s. A celebration of the queer community and drag performance and culture, Drag Ball will take over the basement of Wilder Hall — encompassing the ’Sco, the Rathskellar and DeCafé — on April 22.
This year, Drag Ball will feature a lineup of nationally recognized musicians and drag performers, along with local talent. Latrice Royale, of RuPaul’s Drag Race season four and RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, will be performing. Rapper and drag queen Big Momma will be performing, as will M. Lamar, who, according to College senior and Drag Ball organizing committee Head Em Westheimer, is a “radical queer Black afrofuturist neo-goth singer, pia...

The third Asia America Art Collective will commence this evening with a 7:30 p.m. screening of Kenneth Eng’s My Life in China in the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies’ Hallock Auditorium, followed by a late night ’Sco performance by Yaeji, v1984 and College senior Rachel Katz, who makes music under the name Xuan Rong. The collective is a biennial event series geared toward highlighting artists who identify as Asian or part of the Asian and Pacific Islander Diaspora. This year’s events will include a mix of workshops, screenings, mixed-media, audiovisual installation and spoken word and musical performances.
In addition to calling attention to the work of Asian and Asian-American artistic comm...